Frame for exchangeable posters or the like

ABSTRACT

The invention concerns a frame for exchangeable posters or the like, normally comprising four frame side bars, the ends of which are pairwise connectable over mitre joints to form said frame. Each such bar contains at least one channel which on all sides is defined by means of substantially continuous walls and extends coextensively along the side of said bar, intended to form one circumferential side of the frame, and also a groove for accommodating one edge of said poster, said groove extending coextensively along the opposite side of the bar. An angle connector is arranged at each corner of the frame, one leg thereof being fully inserted into and secured in said channel of one frame bar forming the corner, whereas the other angle connector leg is fully insertable in the corresponding channel of the other bar of the corner and is releaseably lockable therein.

O United States Patent 1 1111 Hemgren Jan. 8, 1974 1 FRAME FOR EXCHANGEABLE POSTERS Primary Examiner-Robert w. Michell OR THE LIKE Assistant Examiner-Wenceslao J. Contreras [75] Inventor: S'ven Anders Hemgren, Kungsangen, AtmmeyfElhot Salter et Sweden [73] Assignee: Dymo Industries, Inc., San ABSTRACT Franclsco Cahf' The invention concerns a frame for exchangeable [22] Filed: June 21, 1972 posters or the like, normally comprising four frame I side bars, the ends of which are pairwise connectable [2]] Appl' 264997 over mitre joints to form said frame. Each such bar contains at least one channel which on all sides is de [52] U-S- Cl 0/l 87/18936 H fined by means of substantially continuous walls and [51] Int. Cl. G09f 1/12 extends coextensively along the side of said bar, in- [58] Field of Search .i 40/ 152, 152.1, 156, tended to form one circumferential side of the frame, 40/ 155, 16; 287/20, 92 D, 189.36 H and also a groove for accommodating one edge of said poster, said groove extending coextensively along the Y [56] References Cited opposite side of the bar. An angle connector is ar- UNITED STATES PATENTS ranged at each corner ofthe frame, one leg thereof 1 822 492 9/193] lamb to/152 1 being fully inserted into and secured in said channel of 3289'341 12/1966 4O/l52 one frame bar forming the corner, whereas the other 12/1966 Halip 40/152 angle connector leg is fully insertable in the corre- 3,534,490 10/1970 Herbert.... 40/155 sponding channel of the other bar of the corner and is 3,613,280 10/1971 Tuchinsky et all 40/155 releaseably lockable therein. 3,698,114 10/1972 Hirsch 40/155 2 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure FRAME FOR EXCHANGEABLE POSTERS OR THE LIKE The present invention is concerned with a frame for exchangeable posters or the like.

The aim of the invention is to provide such a frame which may be delivered ,to the buyer in disassembled condition, requiring a very little space which substantially diminishes the costs of transport and storage of the same. The subsequent assembly of the frame is exceedingly simple and can be performed by an unskilled man by means of a simple tool delivered together with the frame parts. The means for the assembly of the frame cannot be seen from the outside of the frame, wherefore same has a very attractive appearance. By simple brackets or the like which can have an attractive appearance or be completely hidden the frame can be mounted in great many different ways, for instance hanging on a wall, extending out from a wall, supported by a stand etc. Both faces of the frame are alike, so that either or both of them can be used for presenting one or two posters. Several frames can also be coupled together to form a display of several posters, whereby the mutual positions of the different frames can be altered or frames of different sizescan be chosen as desired.

Finally the exchange of posters in the frame only requires that the old poster is pushed out and the new poster slipped in.

Thus a frame constructed according to the invention forms a member in an exceedingly versatile system for presenting posters, announcements and the like to a public. I

The new frame for exchangeable posters or the like according to the invention mainly comprises a. four frame side bars, the ends of which are interconnectable over mitre joints to form a rectangular frame, each frame side bar along the outer side thereof having at least one channel extending coextensively with said bar and being defined on the outside by a circumferential wall of said frame side bar, each frame side bar furthermore centrally on the inside thereof having a groove coextensive therewith for receiving an edge of said posters, said groove being of a width substantially smaller than the width of said frame side bar and being separated from said channel,

b. an angle connector for each corner of the frame, one leg of said angle connector being inserted to its full length through the end of one of the frame side bars meeting at a comer into said channel thereof and secured therein, the other leg of said angle connector in the same manner being insertable into the corresponding channel of the other frame side bar of said corner, and I c. means on said second leg of said angle connector for releasably to lock same in said channel.

According to another feature of the invention the groove of at least one of said four frame side bars extends from the inside of the bar to the circumferential wall thereof and is open outwardly through a central slot in said circumferential wall, the grooves of the other frame side bars having a bottom wall spaced from said circumferential wall and defining part of said channel. Said second leg of the angle connector may have slide fit in the channel and said means for releasably to lock said leg in said channel may comprise a threaded bore extending through said leg and a headless lock screw accommodated in said bore, said lock screw I outside is defined by the outer wall 6 and on the inside being of a length not exceeding the thickness of said leg, an opening furthermore being provided in the bottom wall of the groove of the cooperating frame side bar in a position to allow tightening of said lock screw against said circumferential wall.

The leg of an angle connector, cooperating with a frame side bar having a groove which is open outwardly may be bifurcated to straddle the groove of said frame side member and is preferably secured in the channels thereof.

An embodiment of a frame according to the invention will now be described as an example under reference to the attached drawing which is a perspective view of the same, partly disassembled and partly in section to show certain details more clearly.

The frame comprises four frame side bars 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. Said frame side bars are pairwise (1,2 and 3,4, respectively) of the same length, and the ends thereof are so shaped that they are interconnectable over mitre joints 5 to form a rectangular frame in assembled condition.

All the frame side bars are formed by lengths of extruded light metal profiles, preferably having a suitable surface finish. Of the four frame side bars shown on the drawing three, viz. 1,2,3, are of the same cross section, but the fourth, viz. 4 has a somewhat modified cross section. The reason herefor will be explained later.

Each of said three frame side bars 1,2,3 has a mainly hexagonal cross section, including one plane side or wall 6, forming the outer circumferential side of the frame side bar in the frame. Each of the longitudinal edges of said outer wall 6.are integral with a first front side or wall 7, forming right angles with said outer wall 6. At the inner edges said first front wall 7 merge with second front walls 8 which form an angle with said first front walls 7 and converge inwardly of the frame. Said first and second front walls 7 and 8 together form the surface which will border a poster inserted in the frame of the invention and surround said poster, and the relative width of said walls and the sloping angle of said second front walls 8 are chosen to give a pleasing appearance.

The inner edges of the second front walls 8 are spaced apart in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the same a distance sufficient to accommodate the thickness of posters to be used in the frame. Said spaced apart edges are integral with each one of two further walls 9 which extend from said edges towards and perpendicular to the outer wall 6 of the frame side bar 1,2 or 3. Said lastmentioned walls 9 have a width substantially smaller than the distance between the free edges of the second front walls 8 and the inner surface of said outer wall 6. The edges of said walls 9 situated inside the profile are also interconnected by a wall 10 in a plane parallel with said outer wall 6 of the frame side bar.

The walls 9 thus form the side walls of a groove 11 which is open inwardly of the frame and has a bottom, formed by the wall 10. Furthermore, a channel 12 is fonned in the frame side bar, which channel 12 on the partly by the groove bottom wall 10. Both the groove 11 and the channel 12 are coextensive with the frame side bars 1,2,3.

In the embodiment shown, a web 14 is also formed on the inside of the'profile preferably in each apex formed between the first front wall 7 and the second front wall 8. The outwardly facing surface of said webs 14 and the corresponding surface of the groove bottom wall are coplanar and together define the inner side surface of said channel 12.

As seen from the drawing the walls 9 forming the sides of said groove 11 are extended in form of flanges outside of the edges of the second front walls 8. However, this is only done for reasons of appearance.

The cross section of the fourth frame side bar 4 substantially corresponds to that of the other frame side bars 1,2,3 as to the outer contour thereof. The main difference lies in the form of the groove 11. In the frame side bar 4 the side walls 9 of the groove 11' extends all the way from the edges of the second front walls 8 up to the outer wall 6 and are integral therewith. Said outer wall 6 is furthermore provided with a longitudinal slot 15, so that the groove 11' is open both outwardly and inwardly. The frame side bar 4 thus comprises two portions of equal cross section arranged parallel with each other and spaced a distance corresponding-to the width of said groove 11'. The means to hold said two portions in the stated way will be described in the following. The channels 12 of the three frame side bars 1,2,3 have a substantially rectangular cross section. The corresponding portion of the frame side bar 4 comprises two parallel channels 12 of substantially equal cross sections.

The frame according to the invention also comprises angle connectors 17, one for each corner of the frame. For a corner between two of the frame side bars 1,2 or 3 said angle connector 17 consists of a flat metal strip bent at right angles substantially at the middle of the length thereof to form two legs 18,19 of equal length. One angle connector 17 is preferably inserted with one leg 18 thereof into the channel 12 of the frame side bar 3 interconnecting the other two frame side bars 1,2 of the same configuration. Said angle connector legs 18 are thereby inserted to their full length into said channel 12 from both ends of said frame side bar 3. The leg 18 has preferably a slide fit in said channel 12 and after the insertion the leg 18 is secured in place by making one or two indentations in the groove bottom wall 10 of said frame side bar 3, whereby the means for securing the angle connector become invisible.

The other leg 19 of the angle connectors 17 is provided with a threaded boring on the centre line of the leg. A headless lock screw 20, preferably one having a hexagonal socket at one end, is accommodated in said bore. The length of said screw 20 must not exceed the thickness of said leg 19. By the assembly of the frame, said leg 19 is inserted into the channel 12 of the frame side bar 1 or 2 meeting the frame side bar 3 in the corner in question. Thereby the stop screw 20 is completely situated inside the bore not to prevent the insertion of the leg 19. When the frame side bars 1 or 2 and 3 meet at the mitre joint therebetween the stop screw 20 is aligned with a hole in the groove bottom wall 10 and can be rotated by means of a driving means inserted through said hole until the end of the screw 20 firmly engages the inside of the outer wall 6 of the frame side bar 1 or 2. In such a way the corners of the frame can be assembled without any connecting means being visible from the outside of the frame.

The corners between the frame side bar 4 and adjoining frame side bars 1 and 2 are assembled in a principally equal way. The difference mainly lies in that the legs 18 of the angle connectors 17 for said comers are bifurcated, i.e. a longitudinal slot is cut along the whole length of said leg, said slot having a width sufficient to nect them into a unitary fourth frame side bar.

As seen on the drawing the first front walls 7 of all the frame side bars l-4 are provided with a longitudinal arched indentation or groove 21. Said grooves 21 contribute materially to the appearance of the assembled frame, but are also of practical use. The drawing shows one embodiment of a bracket 22 which can be used with the frame according to the invention to very great advantages.

Said bracket 22 comprises twoparts of equal cross section. Said cross section includes a substantially U- formed centre portion 23 the transverse part of which is provided with a boring. The ends of each leg of the centre portion 23 is provided with a flange 24 which ex tends outwardly substantially parallel with said transverse part of the U-forrned centre portion 23. The inner surfaces of said flange comprises a protruding part extending transversally across said flange and having a convex outer surface of the same radius of curvature as the longitudinal grooves 21 in the first front walls 7 of the frame side bars. The transverse parts of the two centre portions 23 are joined by means of a screw 25 so that a bracket in the form of a double clamp is formed, which clamp securely can grip a frame side bar as shown on the drawing.

Brackets of the above described general construction can be used in many useful ways. By means thereof two or more frames can be coupled together or a frame can be fastened tosupport brackets of suitable form. A bracket comprising one half of the above described embodiment, i.e. one clamp, can be attached at the end of a rod-like stand, so that one frame can be supported by two such stands. Many other such possibilities could be mentioned, but ought to be evident to a man of art and will not be described.

The poster to be shown is simply slid into the frame through the slot 15 of the frame side bar 4, so that the bottom and side edges of said poster is accommodated in the grooves 11 of the frame side bars 1,2 and 3 respectively, while the top edge thereof is accommodated in the groove 1 1 of the frame side bar 4. When a poster shall be exchanged for a new one, the old poster is pushed up through said slot 15 and the new poster is inserted therethrough.

Frames of another configuration than rectangular are also contemplated, assembled by means of a corresponding number of frame side bars and angle connectors having an appropriate enclosed angle.

As is evident from the above description the frame construction forms a part of a versatile system for presenting posters or the like for public. The embodiment described above and shown on the drawing must however, not be considered limiting for the invention which is defined in the attached claims.

I claim:

1. A frame for two-sided display of exchangeable posters and the like, said posters being slidingly insertable into and removable from said frame, said frame comprising first, second, third and fourth side frame 3 ,783,543 5 6 bars, the ends of which are interconnectable by mitre nel of said second side frame bar, which is to form joints to form a rectangular frame, further charactera frame side intermediate said first and said third ized in that: side frame bar, and of said fourth side frame bar, a. each of said first, second and third side frame bars the bracket legs cooperating with said fourth side has an outwardly facing continuous side wall defin- 5 frame bar being bifurcated so as not to obstruct ing one side of a channel extending coextensive said through-slot; and

with said side frame bar and being of a rectangular d. the second legs of said angle brackets, protruding cross-section, said side frame bar centrally on the from the ends of said second and said fourth side inside and coextensive therewith having a groove frame bar being endwise insertable into the ends of to receive an edge of said posters, said groove 10 said channels of said first and said third side frame being of a width substantially smaller than the width of said side frame bar, and having a bottom wall defining part of the opposite side of said chanbar to form said rectangular frame, means being provided on said second angle bracket legs releasably to lock same in said channels.

2. A frame as claimed in claim 1, in which said sec- 5 ond leg of the angle bracket fits slidably in said channel, and said means for releasably locking said leg in said channel comprises a threaded bore extending said fourth side frame bar being centrally and coexthrough said leg, and a headless lock screw in said bore, tensively slotted and the grooved bottom wall said lock screw being of a length not exceeding the thereof being removed to provide for a throughthickness of said leg, an opening being provided in the slot for the insertion and removal of said posters; bottom wall of the groove of the cooperating frame side c. a corner connector in the form of a right angle bar in a position to allow tightening of said lock screw bracket having one leg inserted to its full length against said outwardly facing wall. endwise into and secured in each end of the channel;

b. said fourth side frame bar has an outer contour corresponding to that of said first, second and third side frame bars, the outwardly facing side wall of 

1. A frame for two-sided display of exchangeable posters and the like, said posters being slidingly insertable into and removable from said frame, said frame comprising first, second, third and fourth side frame bars, the ends of which are interconnectable by mitre joints to form a rectangular frame, further characterized in that: a. each of said first, second and third side frame bars has an outwardly facing continuous side wall defining one side of a channel extending coextensive with said side frame bar and being of a rectangular cross-section, said side frame bar centrally on the inside and coextensive therewith having a groove to receive an edge of said posters, said groove being of a width substantially smaller than the width of said side frame bar, and having a bottom wall defining part of the opposite side of said channel; b. said fourth side frame bar has an outer contour corresponding to thAt of said first, second and third side frame bars, the outwardly facing side wall of said fourth side frame bar being centrally and coextensively slotted and the grooved bottom wall thereof being removed to provide for a through-slot for the insertion and removal of said posters; c. a corner connector in the form of a right angle bracket having one leg inserted to its full length endwise into and secured in each end of the channel of said second side frame bar, which is to form a frame side intermediate said first and said third side frame bar, and of said fourth side frame bar, the bracket legs cooperating with said fourth side frame bar being bifurcated so as not to obstruct said through-slot; and d. the second legs of said angle brackets, protruding from the ends of said second and said fourth side frame bar being endwise insertable into the ends of said channels of said first and said third side frame bar to form said rectangular frame, means being provided on said second angle bracket legs releasably to lock same in said channels.
 2. A frame as claimed in claim 1, in which said second leg of the angle bracket fits slidably in said channel, and said means for releasably locking said leg in said channel comprises a threaded bore extending through said leg, and a headless lock screw in said bore, said lock screw being of a length not exceeding the thickness of said leg, an opening being provided in the bottom wall of the groove of the cooperating frame side bar in a position to allow tightening of said lock screw against said outwardly facing wall. 